Cameras, microphones and other sensing devices are nearly ubiquitous. Environments ranging from a small conference room to larger rooms such as, e.g., classrooms and auditoriums, whether private or public, indoor or outdoor, are becoming known as “smart environments,” as more and more sensing devices become a part of such environments. Moreover, recent advancements in sensing device technology are raising individual privacy concerns as some of these sensing devices comprise capabilities, which many participants in an environment are often unaware. For instance, a camera may have extremely high resolution and be capable of zooming in and focusing to the extent that a relatively distant camera can enable text on the screen of a laptop, tablet or phone to be read. A camera may also be able to capture infrared input, permitting watchers to make inferences about emotional states of those under observation. Analogously, a high-end speaker phone located in a meeting room may be capable of triangulating on a person in the room who is whispering to a neighbor and increasing its gain sufficiently to pick up and broadcast the whisper to a remote audience. Furthermore, a sensing device's resolution and tracking may be fine-grained enough that biophysical signs such as, e.g., pulse and breathing rates, or eye dilation may be discerned, all of which can permit inferences about emotional states of the participants in an environment.